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What started out as a class project has landed four University of Guelph students in the finals of the NHL and NHLPA Hockey Innovation Competition in Ottawa.

The second-year sport management students have created a project called Every Step Counts. It proposes installing kinetic floor tiles in NHL arenas to capture the movement of fans walking across them, converting it to energy and then electricity.

“We know that we wanted to do something fun and interactive to get fans involved,” Alexandra Cohen told CBC K-W’s The Morning Edition.

“So, essentially, with every step you take on the tile, it’s using that kinetic energy and turning it into electricity. So it’s actually the fans themselves that would be powering [it].

“With every step, [the tiles] store up that kinetic energy, and then it gets transferred into other electricity that you can use to power different things,” added Cohen.

LISTEN | U of G students finalists in NHL/NHLPA Hockey Innovation Competition:

The Morning Edition – K-W6:51U of G students finalists in NHL/NHLPA Hockey Innovation Competition

Four students from the University of Guelph are heading to Ottawa later this month after becoming finalists in the NHL and NHLPA’s Hockey Innovation Competition. Their idea could turn the footsteps of fans into renewable energy inside hockey arenas. Hear how the project could help make stadiums more sustainable.

Emily Miasik said her team was “bouncing between a few different ideas” when they settled on the kinetic tiles.

“We’ve seen the kinetic tiles being used at concerts and other larger events, but we never saw the kinetic tiles being implemented within sports games,  so we decided to implement it within this NHL project,” she said.

Lila Pringle said the group is looking forward to presenting their idea at the March 25 event at Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa.

“We’ve been working on this for so long, it’s going to be very rewarding to actually present in front of judges and kind of get that experience because as of right now, we’ve only really presented in front of our professors,” Pringle said.

She said they are also looking forward to “the networking opportunity.” 

“Being able to be this early in our university career and being able to make these connections is really important and a great opportunity that I’m really looking forward to,” said Pringle. 

NHL looking for ‘bold, practical ideas’

The University of Guelph team is one of six finalists announced by the National Hockey League and National Hockey League Players’ Association for the Ontario‑based Hockey Innovation Competition.

The other finalists are from University of Waterloo, St. Clair College, Queen’s University, Humber Polytechnic and George Brown College.

According to the NHL, the third edition of the competition invited Ontario-based post-secondary students to develop “bold, practical ideas that address real‑world challenges facing the game,” with a focus on the future of hockey infrastructure. 

Hockey infrastructure plays a critical role in access, participation, and long-term growth of the sport across Canada, the NHL said in a news release.

The release said students were encouraged to begin by identifying a specific infrastructure‑related challenge — ranging from aging community rinks and limited ice access to outdated facilities and a lack of multi‑use spaces — and develop a practical, innovative solution with clear implementation potential for the NHL, its clubs, or community partners.

Through this competition, the NHL says it aims to harness student creativity and emerging technology to reimagine hockey spaces and strengthen the community experience.

“I’m very excited and very grateful for this opportunity,” Miasik said. 

“When people talk about post grad and making those connections and landing a job, it’s very scary and very stressful. So, the idea that we get to present to the NHL and build these connections really early on that can maybe one day transfer over to a real career is really exciting.”